Cat Stevens: Want

Cat Stevens is British singer-songwriter. Explore interesting quotes on want.
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“We believe that the civilised world is a multicultural, multi-religious world. That is the type of message we want to get across.”

"Attacks 'no excuse for racist violence'" in BBC News (22 September 2001) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1558319.stm
Context: We understand the anger, the anguish and suffering which this act of international terrorism has created amongst people.
What we are worried about is the impact of the wrong kind of response to it. … We believe that the civilised world is a multicultural, multi-religious world. That is the type of message we want to get across. … I think there are many who are Muslims and non-Muslims, who are not warmongers but peace makers and want this world to be a better place.
We believed the unison of the voices of so many people standing together against international terrorism is something to be valued and something to be built upon.

“I was a sitting target, in a way, for anybody who wanted to make some kind of headline.”

Interview on CBS News Sunday Morning (12 August 2007)
Context: I was a sitting target, in a way, for anybody who wanted to make some kind of headline. … I certainly never supported the Fatwa, but when I was asked about … the actual principle of blasphemy and capital punishment, well, like the Bible, I said, "You know, yeah, it's there, it's in the Koran." And I couldn't deny that.

“I'm very sad that this seems to be the No. 1 question people want to discuss. I had nothing to do with the issue other than what the media created.”

As quoted in "Cat Stevens Breaks His Silence," by Andrew Dansby in Rolling Stone (14 June 2000) http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/catstevens/articles/story/5927176/cat_stevens_breaks_his_silence; Leviticus 24:16 reads : "And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death."
Context: I'm very sad that this seems to be the No. 1 question people want to discuss. I had nothing to do with the issue other than what the media created. I was innocently drawn into the whole controversy. So, after many years, I'm glad at least now that I have been given the opportunity to explain to the public and fans my side of the story in my own words. At a lecture, back in 1989, I was asked a question about blasphemy according to Islamic Law, I simply repeated the legal view according to my limited knowledge of the Scriptural texts, based directly on historical commentaries of the Qur'an. The next day the newspaper headlines read, "Cat Says, Kill Rushdie." I was abhorred, but what could I do? I was a new Muslim. If you ask a Bible student to quote the legal punishment of a person who commits blasphemy in the Bible, he would be dishonest if he didn't mention Leviticus 24:16.

“I want to just get heart-to-heart, make sure people understand some of the real subtle beauties of what I've discovered.”

On getting back into producing new music, interviewed on "Yusuf Islam's New Album" at CBS News (12 August 2007) http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=2226452n&tag=related;photovideo
Context: A big turning point happened when my son brought back a guitar into the house — You know, 'cause I'd given all those guitars away to charity — way back in 1979 and hadn't really touched the instrument, you know, for like two decades. … So then one day … when everybody's asleep and nobody's watching, I pick it up — and lo and behold, I still know where to put my fingers and out comes this music. I said, "Maybe I've got another job to do." And in this time and period it's probably the best thing I can do because lecturing, politics, God, I've got nothing to do with that. I want to just get heart-to-heart, make sure people understand some of the real subtle beauties of what I've discovered.

“A lot of people would have loved me to keep singing … You come to a point where you have sung, more or less … your whole repertoire and you want to get down to the job of living.”

On leaving the music business in 1979,in an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning (12 August 2007) http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/30/sunday/main2221286.shtml
Context: A lot of people would have loved me to keep singing … You come to a point where you have sung, more or less … your whole repertoire and you want to get down to the job of living. You know, up until that point, I hadn't had a life. I'd been searching, been on the road.

“I’ve, I’ve had it enough
All those lonely rooms
And blank faces
Had it enough
And I want you, I want you no more”

A Bad Penny
Song lyrics, Buddha and the Chocolate Box (1974)

“I don’t want to work away
Doing just what they all say”

But I Might Die Tonight
Song lyrics, Tea for the Tillerman (1970)

“Well, if you want to sing out, sing out,
And if you want to be free, be free.
'Cause there's a million things to be,
You know that there are.”

If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out, originally recorded for the 1971 film Harold and Maude
Song lyrics, Footsteps in the Dark: Greatest Hits (1984)